The Real Reason Gremlins 3 Is Taking Forever To Come Out

First and foremost, Columbus made it abundantly clear that he'd happily join in on Gremlins 3 in a major way, saying, "I would love to do it. I wrote a script, so there is an existing script." 

However, he then revealed why the project hasn't come to fruition yet, explaining that legal barriers are hampering the entire process. "We're working out some rights issues right now, so we're just trying to figure out when the best time to make that film would be," said Columbus. Warner Bros. regained the rights to the Gremlins name and franchise in 2019, but it's unknown what other hurdles are still plaguing production.

As an aside, the Home Alone director also mentioned the technical aspects of the film and how he'd prefer to bring the Mogwai back to life in a third Gremlins outing. "I would still do it the same way — I would do it as tangible puppets, not CGI," he told Collider. "We had one stop-motion scene in the first Gremlins, but I don't think I'd use much CGI in Gremlins 3." While CGI technology has certainly improved, in recent years especially, Columbus clearly holds a lot of stock in good old-fashioned puppetry.

Talks of Gremlins 3 date back to 2017, where Columbus brought up in an interview with Slashfilm that the feature would be "twisted and dark" and would touch on the morality of keeping the lovable Gizmo alive — since, after all, he's always the one spawning legions of havoc-wreaking Gremlins. Should the logistics sort themselves out promptly, eager audiences should be able to return to the Gremlins universe in no time.